'Mecca militants are al-Qaeda members'

"The criminals of Khaldiya district in Mecca are members of Al-Qaeda," Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz told Al-Youm newspaper.

During the raids which started Saturday night, five militants were killed and 12 others were arrested, including seven Saudis, three from Chad, one Egyptian and one unidentified, the interior ministry said late on Tuesday.

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Prince Nayef said five of those held were wounded during a shootout with police.

One of those killed was a Saudi and a second from Chad, while the identities of the remaining three have not been established, a statement added.

Police seized 72 locally-made bombs of various sizes, in addition to 12 automatic rifles with 50 magazines, six guns, ammunition, communication devices, chemicals to manufacture bombs, masks, 40 cleavers, several booby-trapped copies of the Koran and acids.

Two security men were also killed and five other officers and four citizens wounded in the shootout.

The interior ministry said earlier the group was preparing an "imminent" attack and that the apartment where they were living was "booby-trapped and ready to blow up."

Those arrested in Mecca "are under interrogation to establish their links to the cell of 19," suspected terrorists uncovered by the Saudi authorities just a few days before the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh, Prince Nayef said.